As Alex Winston, non-gender-
specific spouse to Sam and with two
kids, you’re a cleaner at the TV studio
when you make the mistake of
answering a ringing phone. It’s
election night, the
Advance party has
stormed to victory on a
platform slightly to the
left of Michael Foot,
and for some reason
the regular vision
mixer has decided to
leave the country.
Somehow you
become a regular at the job. You’re in
charge of the camera feeds from the
studio and any outside broadcast,
choosing which one is broadcast.
Then there’s things like cueing up
adverts, countering interference, and
bleeping out swearing. You can do
any of these with the mouse or
keyboard, so you may be using the
mouse to stay ahead of the
interference while cutting between
angles on an interview with number
keys, and hitting space to bleep out
bad language. All while chuckling at
the script.CANIS CANEM EDITOR
Then it gets complicated. You are the
sole person in charge of what the
country sees on the news, so when
the Advance party starts some
dubious behaviour, you
can toe the party line
or attempt to subvert it.
Your choice of adverts
or images can improve
the fortunes of
companies in which
you own shares, but get
this or your political
manipulations wrong,
and things can turn sour quickly.
The news programme rapidly
becomes government propaganda,
forcing you to make decisions that
can affect your home life. The
text-based interludes between the TV
chaos are where the politics tries to
make itself felt, as you face decisions
about whether to help family
members escape, or how to stretch
the food a little further at Christmas.
The contrast between your home and
professional lives is stark.
Take, for example, an early
interview with a police chief, whohas some strong and offensive views,
during which a gimp literally falls out
of the cupboard behind him. It’s not
what you’d call subtle, and may leave
some feeling cold rather than
warmed by chuckles.
There was the opportunity for
some real political satire here, but any
blows fail to land, as the humour is
just too silly. Parts are genuinely
funny, but other times you expect
Noel Edmonds or Jeremy Beadle to
make an appearance (and if you’re
blissfully unaware of ’80s British TV,
there really is no context that will
help with those references beyond
Google, where you should beware of
Noseybonk). A darker edge might
have helped, some sort of
commentary on current events in
Downing Street and beyond.
The fact that a group of people got
together, decided to release what is
essentially an FMV game in 2022
(hey, it worked for Telling Lies) and
then filmed a bunch of silly, revolting,
slapstick news segments and adverts,
is just wonderful. These people are
genuinely enjoying themselves, and
it’s a joy to see. You can watch the
films back on a virtual video player at
any time, to catch the bits you missed.
However, don’t go into it
expecting The Day Today or Brass
Eye, as any commentary on politics,
apart maybe from ‘oppressive
government bad,’ is so slight as to be
non-existent. The actual interactivity
is also limited, despite attempts to
introduce new mechanics like
dealing with thunderstorms, though
keeping everything running smoothly
and audience-pleasing while a naked
swearing policeman tugs at your
attention from the top left is really
enough to put anyone off a career in
live television.85
Not For Broadcast is
deeply silly and all the
better for it – the missed
political targets hardly
matter in the end.VERDICTM
aking up your own curse words is funny, and the
developer of Not for Broadcast seems to agree. Having
started off with a few conventional swears, it’s not long
before all sorts of wibbleclip is added to the list of
naughty words. This matters, because it’s your job as the
vision mixer of a nightly TV news show to censor them, so as not to offend
the sensitive ears of your audience. Which includes the government.VISIONARY
NOT FOR BROADCAST is the silliest thing on TV
By Ian EvendenThere was the
opportunity
for some real
political
satire hereTOOLS OF THE TRADE
Get to know your vision-mixing consoleFEEDS
These are the
camera feeds for you
to choose between.
Don’t linger too long,
viewers hate that.INTERFERENCE
Keep the green
waveform in the
white guidelines, or
your audience will
switch off.ADVERTS
Three slots and six to
choose from? Of
course you’ll play the
ones that benefit
you. And the party.CENSOR
Any swears appear
as red in the audio
box, but you’re
better off doing it
by ear.NEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
A TV propaganda
simulator
EXPECT TO PAY
£19.50
DEVELOPER
NotGames
PUBLISHER
tinyBuild
REVIEWED ON
Threadripper 2950X,
64GB RAM, RTX 3080
10GB
MULTIPLAYER
No
LINK
notforbroadcast
game.comNot For Broadcast
REVIEW